"There certainly was no need to wake the invalid," he thinks, "though it was not my fault. . . .They imagine I did it wantonly, idly. They don't know that I'm bound in duty . . . if they don't believe it, I can bring the station-master to them." A station. The train stops five minutes. Before the third bell, Podtyagin enters the same second-class carriage. Behind him stalks the station-master in a red cap. "This gentleman here," Podtyagin begins, "declares that I have no right to ask for his ticket and . . . and is offended at it. I ask you, Mr. Station-master, to explain to him. . . . Do I ask for tickets according to regulation or to please myself? Sir," Podtyagin addresses the scraggy-looking man, "sir! you can ask the station-master here if you don't believe me." The invalid starts as though he had been stung, opens his eyes, and with a woebegone face sinks back in his seat. "My God! I have taken another powder and only just dozed off when here he is again. . . again! I beseech you have some pity on me!" "You can ask the station-master . . . whether I have the right to demand your ticket or not." "This is insufferable! Take your ticket. . . take it! I'll pay for five extra if you'll only let me die in peace! Have you never been ill yourself? Heartless people!" "This is simply persecution!" A gentleman in military uniform grows indignant. "I can see no other explanation of this persistence." "Drop it . . ." says the station-master, frowning and pulling Podtyagin by the sleeve. Podtyagin shrugs his shoulders and slowly walks after the station-master. "There's no pleasing them!" he thinks, bewildered. "It was for his sake I brought the station-master, that he might understand and be pacified, and he . . . swears!" Another station. The train stops ten minutes. Before the second bell, while Podtyagin is standing at the refreshment bar, drinking seltzer water, two gentlemen go up to him, one in the uniform of an engineer, and the other in a military overcoat. "Look here, ticket-collector!" the engineer begins, addressing Podtyagin. "Your behaviour to that invalid passenger has revolted all who witnessed it. My name is Puzitsky; I am an engineer, and this gentleman is a colonel. If you do not apologize to the passenger, we shall make a complaint to the traffic manager, who is a friend of ours." "Gentlemen! Why of course I . . . why of course you . . ." Podtyagin is panic-stricken. "We don't want explanations. But we warn you, if you don't apologize, we shall see justice done to him." "Certainly I . . . I'll apologize, of course. . . To be sure. . . ." Half an hour later, Podtyagin having thought of an apologetic phrase which would satisfy the passenger without lowering his own dignity, walks into the carriage. "Sir," he addresses the invalid. "Listen, sir. . . ." The invalid starts and leaps up: "What?" "I . . . what was it? . . . You mustn't be offended. . . ."